Lucan Community College is committed to providing a comprehensive and effective learning& language support and resource teaching service for all students. This enables a specific cohort of students who have additional needs to have an appropriate framework of support to access their curricula and achieve their potential. It is an entitlement for all students to have their needs appropriately identified and met. The Additional Needs policy considers the student as a young person and as a learner and can be read in full here.
Each individual student with additional needs is unique. If you would like to talk about the needs of your student please request a phone call or appointment with a member of our additional needs team by emailing admin@lucancc.ie and marking your email for the attention of the AEN team. As staff members on our AEN team change from time to time, you should contact them through this email address if you do not receive a reply to an email sent to any individual staff member that you have previously dealt with.
If you think that your child is eligible for an exemption from studying Irish, please familiarise yourself with the relevant circular and contact the AEN team through admin@lucancc.ie for further information. An Irish exemption from primary school will follow the student into second level once the official Irish Exemption certificate is provided to us on enrolment.
Our current school policy is that every student must study a modern foreign language as part of their core curriculum – either French or German. Where a student has a psychological report that advises that the student should not study a modern foreign language, the school will put alternative arrangements in place for the student based on available resources.
Our parent wellbeing padlet includes a range of resources to support students with additional education needs and can be accessed here. All of the information suggested by the PA to date has now been included with a range of approved additional information also added.
Lucan Community College is also working on a Provision Mapping process. Provision mapping is a process that allows schools to identify, list and evaluate the evidence-informed provisions and supports in place for students across the Continuum of Support in one summary document, which is called a Provision Map. In doing so, it provides a basis to strategically cost, plan and monitor provision, allocate resources and identify staff professional learning needs. Provision Mapping offers a framework that builds leadership capacity across the ETB sector to respond to increasingly diverse student populations through distributed and networked leadership approaches. See https://www.etbi.ie/provision-mapping-induction/
We hold parent information evenings at critical times for the educational progression of students. We inform and signpost information of relevance to parent of students with additional needs at these meetings. For those who cannot attend, we publish the slides on our website.
The scheme of Reasonable Accommodations at the Certificate Examinations (RACE) facilitates access to the certificate examinations by candidates who would have difficulty in accessing the examination or communicating what they know to an examiner because of a physical, visual, hearing and/or learning difficulty. The scheme assists candidates who have special educational needs to demonstrate that what they know and can do in certificate examinations, without compromising the integrity of the assessment. The focus on the scheme is on removing barriers to access, while retaining the need to assess the same underlying skills and competencies as are assessed for all other candidates, and to apply the same standards of achievement as apply to all other candidates.
It is important to note that having a formal diagnosis or professional report does not automatically guarantee accommodations. The State Examinations Commission (SEC) each year set out criteria for candidates that must be met before an application can be made. The AEN team will then make the application on behalf of the student in 3rd year and 6th year before their Junior and Leaving certificate exams, but it will be up to the SEC to decide whether or not the particular accommodation(s) are granted or not.
The type of accommodations that are typically made, under grounds of having a Hearing difficulty, Visual difficulty, Physical difficulty or Learning difficulty include (but not restricted to):
Information about DARE and HEAR access routes to higher education in Ireland is outlined at our 6th year parent information evening and is available here. If you think your son/daughter is eligible for either programme, please contact the relevant guidance counsellor for more information by emailing admin@lucancc.ie.
The guidance team have information on a number of organisations that provide supported training and pathways to employment for students including:
The National Learning Network, which is part of the Rehab Group, offers courses and training for young adults aged 16 years of age or older. The National Learning Network courses cater to a wide range of learners, including adults with disabilities, health challenges, and those facing educational disadvantage. Our local NLN centres are in Ballyfermot, Tallaght and Stillorgan.
Website: https://rehab.ie/national-learning-network
The Dublin South City Partnership provide the following services:
Workability
WorkAbility is a programme designed to support participants experiencing emotional, psychological or mental health challenges and/or co-occurring disabilities. Dublin South City Partnership WorkAbility team works with participants supporting them to engage with work and/or study, learn new skills, find volunteering and take steps towards finding sustainable employment.
Tús Progarmme
The Tús Programme is a nationwide community work placement scheme for people on Jobseekers Allowance who have been unemployed for at least a year, and for people on Disability Allowance.
Website: https://dublinsouthcitypartnership.ie
